Fate Shift - Chapter 6

Despite being absorbed in testing out Appraisal D’Gedda reacted the moment the explosion rippled through the Thunder Hall. His quick reaction was the only reason he escaped unscathed, as the room he’d been in was quite close to the blast’s origin. Falcoun, who he was currently sitting beside, wasn’t as fortunate. Although he wasn’t badly injured he’d been hit by some shrapnel and suffered a few broken bones.

Most of the people who’d been injured in the blast weren’t hurt much, as those most threatened by the attack had been protected by Gauljian. The Thunder Hall had already been cleared and cordoned off; everyone had been shifted away. As for D’Gedda and Falcoun they were resting in a crowded infirmary. In truth it seemed most of the people here were more focused on gossiping about recent events then healing or getting healed. Of the few badly injured by the demon’s attack, none had been sent to this infirmary.

Neither of the two spoke; they were both quietly thinking their own thoughts. In D’Gedda’s case he was considering how dangerous that earlier situation was. Since he’d reincarnated he’d allowed himself to relax too much. What good was a second shot at life if he wasted it in a moment of carelessness? D’Gedda resolved not to make that mistake again. Just because this was a different time period didn’t mean he’d encounter fewer threats.

‘I should focus on making the most of this identity’ D’Gedda thought. ‘I’ll devote myself to cultivating as a member of the Seven Powers Sect. Once I’ve gained enough knowledge and strength I’ll decide whether I should seek out a new body. I’ll definitely want to build up a hidden residence outside the sect’s territory at some point too. For now though the best thing I can do is to familiarize myself with those spells I saw earlier.’

After browsing the spells he’d memorized from the stone tablet D’Gedda sighed. For whatever reason, Kosh had decided to focus on using the powers of cold and earth. These two powers didn’t synergize particularly well together as far as D’Gedda could tell. Aside from using cold to enhance the effects of the earth spells there didn’t seem to be any crossover. In a sense Kosh had only really focused on using earth, the power of cold was used purely to boost the strength of his earth spells. Still, D’Gedda could rectify such an issue in time. He’d do whatever was necessary to master all seven powers and to do that he had to start somewhere anyway. Why not begin with earth?

While D’Gedda contemplated his future plans he failed to notice Taeh watching him via divine sense. Ry observed D’Gedda using divine sense as well but, unlike her master, she didn’t detect anything unusual. Still, she too had also heard the demon’s words. After several seconds she asked using voice transmission “Is this person one of the people the demon targeted?”

“Yes” Taeh replied. “Despite being in Meridian Opening that kid has traces of two souls. The body’s original soul has been rendered dormant and is slowly being merged with the other soul. The second soul is old and does indeed possess a trace of the Extermination Hell. I suspect the person inhabiting that youth’s body barely avoided dying to the Extermination Hell by casting a very special possession technique. It would explain why his soul is so weak despite being so large. Whoever this person is he was probably my current self’s equal at some point.”

Ry frowned as she replied “Who could it possibly be then? There’re very few people as powerful as you and none of them have any connection to the Extermination Hell.”

“It’s probably a cultivator from before my time. As old as I am it’s not like I’m a first-generation cultivator. Regardless of whom he is though I’m not going to bother him. The possession technique he’s cast doesn’t value his soul over the host’s soul, it merges the two together. Within a year he’ll be a different person. In a sense it’s as if he’s actively undergoing a cycle of reincarnation by fusing his soul with the original body’s soul. By the end of it he’ll perhaps have lost his old sense of identity, yet he’ll have a stronger soul. A technique like that’s the type only an old-school demonic cultivator would use. A righteous cultivator wouldn’t touch any type of possession technique and a modern demonic cultivator would value their self above all.”

“You respect him” Ry stated.

“I do. Someone like that could’ve been and could become a Fiend or even an Abomination. Most of the cultivators today’ve never seen a live Fiend but let me tell you: they’re all strong. To become a Fiend is to sacrifice so much of who you are in the pursuit of power that you become unrecognizable to others. It’s like becoming a member of a whole new species. That’s also the origin of demonic cultivators. They were called demonic because they had the will to sacrifice more than anyone else.”

“Even if this cultivator was a Fiend once it still doesn’t make sense to me. Why are you going to leave him alone? If you respect him you could offer to take him to Kahzareem and if you fear him you could kill him. Why do nothing when you have the initiative?”

“I don’t want to draw attention to him. None of the people here aside from me have strong enough divine sense or the right techniques to detect what’s happening inside his body. As long as I don’t draw attention to him they won’t know anything’s going on. Besides, he only has to remain undetected for a year, after that all the signs there was ever a foreign soul in his body will have faded away. It really is a marvelous possession technique.

Anyway, someone like that will have an unquenchable thirst to become more powerful. As long as he doesn’t die we’ll meet again. I’m Immortal; I can wait.”